Don't Let Anyone Limit Your Dreams

Monday, August 31, 2009

In the movie "Pursuit of Happyness" (2006), Will Smith's character (Chris Gardner) says to his son, "Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something - not even me." He continues, "You got a dream...You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period." The quote may sound extra cute and sugary to some of you, but within the context of the movie, it was a really powerful statement. I am a big proponent of the quote, primarily due to the fact that I have always believed it and applied it to my life. The quote also packs plenty of "punch" for those who need some inspiration to re-fuel their ambition right now. I believe every person has the right to determine his or her destiny, and that no other person should be given the right to limit another person's dreams or happiness. If you work hard and are determined to achieve a particular goal, you have every right to keep on pushing forward without letting other people interfere with your ambition. You also have the right to keep pushing on in the middle of a setback. Think about a successful person you know, and/or any successful person you see in the media (think Bill Gates, Oprah, and the list goes on). Many successful people dealt with people or situations that either tried to directly limit or abort their success, and/or tried to indirectly halt or abort their dream goals. However, when all is said and done, you have the ability and right to push on forward toward your dream, despite the existence of naysayers that may be surrounding you. Absolutely no one can take that right away from you.

Achieving success usually means overcoming some sort of obstacle along the way - so don't cancel out your dreams even though it feels like you're facing a wall. For every achievement in my life, I always made a conscious choice to push forward if and when an obstacle crossed my path. An obstacle may look and feel defeating at first, but it is so important to realize that it will only be a permanent brick wall if you allow it to be a brick wall. Even if you don't have anyone around you to encourage you on a regular basis, I really hope that you will continue on and push forward toward your dream, and push all the critics to the side as you step into your next achievement in life. :)

Claiming Your Victory in Troubled Times

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Living in New York City, I've noticed an increasing number of troubled faces, especially as of late. The economy has hit every city around the world on some catastrophic level, and the Big Apple has unfortunately endured a monster bite, leaving many New Yorkers miserable and wondering about their jobs, their finances, their families, their...everything! As a law student, I've noticed that some of my colleagues are concerned about the security of their law firm job offers here in New York City, since many firms here have unfortunately been negatively affected by the recession. For anyone who is worried about any particular issue and craves a more optimistic outlook, I would like to offer you a simple coin of wisdom: Claim your victory!

How exactly do you "claim victory", you ask? It's simple: it is a thought-processing mechanism that you consciously kick into gear from the moment you wake up in the morning until the moment you go to bed at night. Positively evaluate your self-confidence outside of your circumstances, rather than remain swallowed by your circumstances. Despite what the media or society may say, your victory and your perception of your victory is not at all attached to any particular monetary/relational/academic accomplishment - it is instead attached to your conceptualization of how YOU view yourself in whatever circumstance. Your perception of self has a key role to play in your daily comprehension and evaluation of situations and issues happening to you and around you. If you claim victory first thing in the morning - nothing can stop you. Your perspective on situations will 100% change once you speak confidence and joy into your mind and your life - fewer things will get on your nerves, you will have a calmer and more focused response to situations, and you will have a more peaceful mindset for planning and problem-solving. So don't forget to sprinkle in some "victory-talk" into your cup of joe tomorrow morning!

In light of being and feeling victorious, it is also necessary to be realistic about your life plans and always have a realistic "plan B" while also having strong faith in your "plan A" as well. If you find that it is very easy to give up when situations become challenging, I very much encourage you to simply consider those challenging situations as a test for you to challenge yourself to rise to a higher and more victorious level of thought life. One of the things that many people do not realize is that negative self-speak is one of the top reasons why people self-sabotage their dreams and ascent to the next level in whatever arena in their lives. If you have a particular goal for 2009, and you find yourself negatively speaking over something in your life, you should switch up your speech and start speaking victory, confidence and accomplishment over that issue instead, as if you know and believe that you will achieve that goal. "The Secret" tries to label this mental strategy as some sort of metaphysical secret knowledge that only successful and happy people know about and implement in their lives. What do I call it? Common sense for a more joyful, peaceful, and triumphant life!